Erik ten Hag can do what Ole Gunnar Solskjaer couldn't at Manchester United

Two years ago today Manchester United travelled to Switzerland on their return to the Champions League and they did so as the Premier League's early pacesetters. All was rosy with the world at Old Trafford.

United had 10 points from four games and had scored 11 goals. Three days earlier Cristiano Ronaldo made a triumphant homecoming, scoring twice in the 4-1 win against Newcastle. New signings Raphael Varane and Jadon Sancho also played and a title challenge didn't seem so far-fetched.

When Ronaldo scored after 13 minutes in Bern, little did we realise that the season had just peaked. Aaron Wan-Bissaka was sent off later in the half, Young Boys snatched a win in the last minute and United's season unravelled at a searing pace. After those first four games, they would play another 45 in all competitions and win just 16 of them, losing 15.

It truly was the annus horribilis for United. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was sacked, Ralf Rangnick was hopeless and the connection between players and fans fell apart.

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Yet some fatalistic United supporters are already getting those vibes off this season, like 2023/24 has just told 2021/22 to hold its beer. It's been a pretty disastrous month, that's for sure.

The summer had started so positively with three key signings by the start of August, but the off-pitch travails that United have gone through already are stranger than fiction. Plenty of it has been self-inflicted, but the dramas around Mason Greenwood, Antony and Jadon Sancho have damaged the club.

On the pitch, the football hasn't been great either. There have been two wins, two defeats and the sense that things just aren't quite clicking at the moment. There is also a